I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to medical devices and, more particularly, to a medical device to reduce the likelihood of cardiac arrhythmia or to halt it once it has begun.
II. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known that, in order to halt tachyrhythmia, defibrillators are employed to apply a shock to the heart. While this previously known method is effective in halting tachyrhythmia, this procedure is oftentimes quite painful for the patient. This is particularly true for atrial fibrillation since patients normally do not lose consciousness with this type of arrhythmia. Furthermore, shocks having an energy level of 1 to 5 joules are oftentimes required to halt atrial fibrillation while electrical shocks greater than a fraction of a joule are quite painful.
In the treatment of arrhythmia, such as tachyrhythmia, it is believed that a certain critical mass of myocardium must be present in order to allow the fibrillation to be maintained. In one previously known procedure known as the maze procedure, the heart tissue is surgically divided into segments, each of which is smaller than the critical mass of myocardium necessary to maintain a fibrillation. The maze procedure, however, while effective in use, requires open heart surgery and entails relatively high risk to the patient. Furthermore, the previously known maze procedure creates a permanent surgical modification to the heart which may have long term undesirable effects which are currently unknown. Likewise, the use of the maze procedure may preclude future medical treatments for arrhythmia which would otherwise be beneficial to the patient.